Move to the Center

Today we were sitting on the living room floor, snapping a big bowl of beans when Teach rolled onto her tummy and suggested that Crafty stand on her back. When she did, Baby Doll immediately climbed up too. I quickly cautioned them about the dangers of such a trick and they looked at me like I had things growing out of my ears. That reminded me of this story.

I wish my mom were around so she could correct me on all these dates, so I will just take my best shot. I was in high school, so I'm thinking I was about 15 so it must have been about 1980. That would have made my Little Sister about 3 years old. We were doing the exact same thing, lying on the floor in our den (family room) when I asked my then nine-year-old sister to "walk on my back."

We did this little game often. It felt like a massage and I had seen people on TV do it, so I knew it had to be a good idea. Deb walked up and down a few times and then my Little Brother got in the act. Well of course you know what happened next. My Little Sister just couldn't sit there and let them have all the fun so she climbed on.

I was pinned to the floor and they were having a good time until my Little Sister decided to fall off. Now if we had been another 6 inches away from the fireplace and toward the center of the room, nothing bad would have happened. But we weren't and Amy managed to land right on the rough edge with her face.

Blood spurted everywhere and she started screaming. Mom came running in to see what was the matter and she immediately grabbed Amy and tried to staunch the flow of blood. You know, heads and faces bleed pretty well. It wasn't long before she gathered up her wallet and headed for the door with Amy in tow.

They came back a couple of hours later with several stitches and a lecture. That was the last time Deb walked on my back (at least when the little kids were around). Maybe I'll just tell my own kids to roll into the center of the floor before they start.